The name game is not likely to end completely, however. Despite the popularity of the FireWire label in the United States and Europe, Snider noted that the i.Link name has caught on in some places, especially Japan. Companies in those regions may continue using that name if they wish. Also, the trade group says it is keeping its name for now. "We are a technology trade group," Snider said. "People in the tech industry understand 1394." Plus, he added, "We don't want the i.Link crowd to feel like we are casting aspersions." FireWire is billed as having a top performance of 400mbps, compared with 480mbps for USB 2.0. The original version of USB ran at a comparatively poky 12mbps and was less well suited for high-speed tasks such as shuttling data to and from a hard drive or a CD burner. Despite USB's increased speed, though, FireWire still has a number of benefits, backers say. In addition to carrying data, it can serve as a power cord, handling enough juice to recharge the battery on a portable device. USB is more limited as a power source, ample for a mouse, say, or a keyboard. Another benefit of FireWire devices is that, unlike gadgets using USB, they can talk to each other without a PC serving as middleman. But there's likely to be a split in the market for some time. "USB is more affordable, but there are tens of millions of products that have FireWire, and that's called inertia," Doherty said. Consumers will play a big part in determining the eventual winners in the high-speed connection market, Doherty said, because consumers, not businesses, snap up most of the gear that benefits from the faster speeds. FireWire is due for a speed bump of its own. The trade group has ratified a new version, 1394b, that doubles the speed of the technology. Although chipmakers have begun making the necessary silicon, products using the device are still in the labs. Snider says to expect the first products using the faster technology to show up by the end of the year. Boger declined to say when Apple might move to the faster version. While nearly all PC makers now include FireWire ports on some machines, Apple has been the most widespread adopter of the technology, first using it in January 1999 on the Power Mac G3 tower and now offering it as a standard on every new Mac. The port is also central to Apple's digital hub strategy of connecting to devices such as digital cameras, camcorders, and potentially other living room devices such as digital televisions. In April, Apple acquired Zayante, a maker of FireWire chips. FireWire is also the star of Apple's iPod digital music player, allowing an entire CD to be transferred from a Mac to the iPod in about 10 seconds. "Certainly the success of the iPod was a showcase of what a FireWire product can do and the advantages it has over other ports," Boger said.
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